1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to treating conditions in a body by applying torque to microscopic paramagnetic structures in the body to excite mechanical motion of those structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Malaria affects millions of people all over the world. Upon infecting a red blood cell, the malaria parasite feeds on hemoglobin (Hb) and breaks the Hb down inside a food vacuole in the parasite. The heme part of Hb is called ferritoprotoporphin IX (abbreviated as Fe(III)PPIX); and cannot be digested by the parasite. The parasite transforms the Fe(III)PPIX into crystalline stacks called hemozoin. Hemozoin is a crystalline dimer of Fe(III)PPIX with a well defined crystalline structure which can be described as lath-like. These crystals in the vacuole of the parasite are typically close to 1 micron (μm, 1 μm=10−6 meters) in length and several hundred nanometers (nm, 1 nm=10−9 meters) in width. The magnetic susceptibility of hemozoin varies depending on the nature of the solution in which it is found; but, the resulting magnetic moment is generally within 1 to 5 Bohr magneton, which makes hemozoin super-paramagnetic. Magnetic susceptibility indicates the tendency of magnetic dipoles in a material to align in response to an externally applied magnetic field. The resulting alignment causes the material to behave as a small magnet that experiences a force depending on the magnet's orientation relative to the externally applied magnetic field.
Low frequency oscillating magnetic fields have been shown to cause mechanical torsion of hemozoin within red blood cells infected by the malaria parasite (J. E. Feagan, M. A. W. Wurscher, C. Ramon, H. Lai, “Magnetic fields and Malaria,” Biologic Effects of Light: Proceedings of the Biologic Effects of Light Symposium, Hlick, M. F. and Jung, E. G. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Hingham, M A, pp 343-349, 1999). According to Feagan et al., the mechanical torsion is sufficient to cause membrane disruption inside the parasite cell and hence the destruction of the parasite. Alternatively, the authors suggested that beside mechanical disruption of parasitic membranes, the applied magnetic field also inhibited the biopolymerization of heme, thus imposing the toxic effect of heme on the parasite and causing its death. After 24 hour exposure to an alternating magnetic field of 15 Gauss (Gs) at 5 cycles per second (Hertz, Hz) the level of parasite in culture was reduced to a range from about 70% to about 33% of the level in untreated control samples.